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Tag: restrictor plate racing

  • The White Zone: Some thoughts on the 61st Daytona 500

    The White Zone: Some thoughts on the 61st Daytona 500

    The buildup and anticipation came and went. The 61st running of the Daytona 500 is officially in the books. A new season of NASCAR is truly underway.

    But before we turn our focus to Atlanta Motor Speedway and beyond, here’s some thoughts I had on Sunday’s race.

    “DiBurrito” had a breakout race

    DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – FEBRUARY 17: Matt DiBenedetto, driver of the #95 Procore Toyota, races Ricky Stenhouse Jr., driver of the #17 Fastenal Ford, during the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series 61st Annual Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 17, 2019 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Photo: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images

    Matt DiBenedetto has always been the eternal underdog in his years of racing in NASCAR. He’s shown flashes of excellence that made him a rising star in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series ranks, but it never really translated when he made it to the national level.

    That changed Sunday, when he led a race high of 49 laps. For context, that’s more laps than he’s led in any race, any season and his cumulative Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series seasons combined.

    “Unbelievable how fast my car was,” he said. “I’ve never had a piece under me like that, so that’s amazing.”

    Now keep in mind that the racing we see at Daytona International Speedway isn’t what we see at any other track, besides Talladega Superspeedway. And come next week at Atlanta, DiBenedetto could be back to running mid-pack.

    He also finished 28th, after being collected in the Big One with 10 laps remaining.

    With that said, however, success at plate tracks is still noteworthy, and there’s a lot you can extrapolate from a strong run.

    “Had a lot of changes with this team and we came out and led the most laps and were flying in our Toyota Camry today,” he added. “A lot of momentum going into the season even though it kind of ended pretty heartbreaking.”

    If he has sustained success from Atlanta onwards, you can point back to Feb. 17 as the day he had his “breakout race.”

    Sunday’s race saved a forgettable Speedweeks

    Up until the green flag dropped on Sunday’s Daytona 500, Speedweeks 2019 stood to be arguably the most forgettable in recent memory.

    The Clash was a single-file snoozefest that was highlighted by a misstep on Jimmie Johnson’s end that triggered a 17-car wreck. The Duels were a single-file snoozefest that was highlighted by Joey Logano’s last lap pass to win Duel No. 2. Saturday’s XFINITY Grand National Series race was a single-file snoozefest that had no bright spot.

    The only race that wasn’t a snoozefest, prior to the 500, was Friday night’s Gander Outdoors Truck Series race. And that was a wreck-filled event in which only nine trucks finished the race and a crew member was run over.

    Sunday’s Daytona 500, however, was an exciting race that saved this year’s Speedweeks. Granted, there were some of the usual drawbacks of modern restrictor plate racing: The lead car had such strong control of the draft and could block any advance at whim. And while the finish suffered because of this, passing wasn’t a Herculean task.

    With this being the final restrictor plate race, these drawbacks could be a non-issue at Talladega.

    The final restrictor plate race

    While restrictor plates had been used prior to 1988, Feb. 14, 1988 was the first time NASCAR mandated its at both Daytona and Talladega.

    While intended as a safety device, the restriction of air flow to the engine, thus reducing horsepower, had the byproduct of bunching the field together and creating the multi-line pack racing, and multi-car wrecks that became synonymous with Daytona and Talladega.

    With NASCAR’s new aero package slowing down speeds, the restrictor plate has become redundant.

    It’s too soon to say if the plate will ever make a comeback. There’s always the chance that NASCAR doesn’t like what it sees at Talladega and Daytona (safety speaking) with the new aero package and brings the plates back.

    But if it truly is the final time we ever used the plates, and while I don’t expect the racing at Daytona or Talladega to change that much, there’s a part of me that’s sad to see the device that led to the most competitive races (objectively speaking) NASCAR sees year in and year out.

    Ratings are up

    At the time that I wrote this, the overnight ratings for Sunday’s Daytona 500 were released.

    https://twitter.com/A_S12/status/1097500383440789504

    It also finished as the highest rated sports event of the weekend, beating out the NBA All-Star Game.

    This comes after an increase in ratings for The Clash.

    Of course, we have 35 more races to run. So it’s too early to say if this weekend was just a bright spot or sign of turning the ship around. But it’s great to have more people watching NASCAR’s biggest race this year.

  • The View from My Recliner – Thoughts from Daytona

    The View from My Recliner – Thoughts from Daytona

    Let it be known that I hate restrictor plate racing.

    Between the XFINITY and Cup races, it was pile up after pile up. If you’re a fan, you might as well save the money, go to the County Fair and go see the demolition derby.

    If I am a car owner, I would really think hard about even entering my car into a race at Daytona and Talladega. You might as well consider that car a known loss and be surprised if the car survives. The investment for four restrictor plate races isn’t worth it.

    It was great to see Roger Penske in victory lane celebrating the 100th victory for Team Penske. The Captain has been the center of Indy Car racing for years and in the past 20 plus years, has been a force in NASCAR. He has his team poised to be in contention for years to come with younger drivers like Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano driving the Penske cars and Ryan Blaney driving for the Wood Brothers. The three drivers are lined up with three crew chiefs in Paul Wolfe, Todd Gordon and Jeremy Bullins which will add to team chemistry and continuity.

    Tony Stewart made it into the top-30 in points even though he wrecked out of Daytona. Look for Stewart to go hard for another win to solidify his spot in the Chase. I have the feeling Smoke will be a big factor at Indy. He was part of the tire test and would love to get his 50th Cup win at home.

    Kudos to Ryan Newman who called out NASCAR in the drivers meeting. I can see a fine coming, but his comments were on target. With the way the XFINITY race ended on Friday night, Newman calling into question how NASCAR officiated the race was on the money.

    Right now, there have been 11 winners in the Cup series. The five who are in on points right now are Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman and Ryan Blaney. After Richmond, unless someone like A.J. Allmendinger grabs a win at The Glen, the only driver in this group I don’t see in the Chase is Austin Dillon. The Slugger Labbe-led team hasn’t been consistent lately and I could see them dropping out of the Chase race and their spot taken by Jamie McMurray on points or Kyle Larson with a win.

    Kentucky will be interesting to see if it is a follow the leader like most re-paves turn out to be.

    Enjoy the racing this week and that is the View from My Recliner.

  • The Non-Race at Talladega and Team Orders

    The Non-Race at Talladega and Team Orders

    The twice a year non-race was held at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, sort of like the non-races held twice a year at Daytona. This bastardization of what stock car racing is all about is about 25 years old and in all that time, no solution has been found for the restrictor plate, the device that robs cars of horsepower and allows the nonsense that lately has two cars working in tandem so they can go faster. Those that refuse to pair up go to the back. Just ask Denny Hamlin. The poor guy didn’t have a partner and until he found one, he was dead in the water. Is this really racing?

    [media-credit name=”Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]I used to gripe about the long lines that restrictor plate racing brought to the table, but this is worse. It is apparent that nearly everyone had secured a “dancing partner” before the race along with orders to go along with it. Teammates with teammates make a lot of sense. It wasn’t too long ago that Jeff Gordon said, and I reported it, that he was going to work with his teammates and that included Tony Stewart. Everyone knows that Hendrick Motorsports supplies cars for Stewart-Haas Racing, so it was surprising that so much controversy when Trevor Bayne was asked to desert Hendrick Motorsports’ Jeff Gordon in the closing laps of the race. It seems that young Bayne doesn’t really understand how the system works. There’s a championship on the line and helping a competitor, especially pushing him is not accepted.

    It’s a shame that it has to come to this, but it has. The monster that has been created rests with antiquated thinking. There probably is a solution, but it’s too easy to ignore what could be done and go along with what has already been done. Maybe it’s the cars. Maybe it’s the tracks. Maybe it’s something else, I don’t know. What I do know is that people love this kind of racing, or at least I thought they did. From the looks of the empty seats at Talladega on Sunday, I’m not so sure.

    I blame Jeff Gordon for taking advantage of a young man who may not understand how the system works. It’s especially upsetting to me that he took advantage of that young man. I can just read the comments from fans who want to talk about “mean old Jack Roush ordering young Trevor around,” and not remembering that most of the teams were doing the same thing. I’m sure it was upsetting to Bayne, but he is going to find the same thing all around the garage as long as this kind of racing is permitted. It’s also telling that Gordon admitted as much earlier this year.

    I really cannot wait until this weekend when we go back to real racing. Martinsville has true racing as it was meant to be. There may be team orders, but not to the extent we saw Sunday. I’m going to be frank and admit that I do not know the answer to this problem. My only hope is that we somehow and someday do come up with an answer that will let every competitor race for himself or herself and not have to worry about teammates and what they’re doing. It’s just insane.